Thomas du Toit runs the rule over England’s improving front-row as big things predicted for rising stars
Bath's Vilikesa Sela in England training and Gloucester's rising star Afolabi Fasogbon.
Springboks star Thomas du Toit has been impressed by the emerging front-row talent in England and expects a couple of youngsters to make it to the very top.
South Africa has become the home of scrummaging with the Republic producing a lengthy list of outstanding props.
Du Toit is one of those front-rowers having become one of the best forwards in the world over the past 12 months, establishing himself in the Boks XV.
In contrast, England have been struggling to produce scrummaging talent, but that looks like it is changing.
England’s young tighthead options
The age-grade side won the World Rugby U20 Championship in 2024 thanks to its dominant set-piece, which contained Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Afolabi Fasogbon and Vilikesa Sela.
Opoku-Fordjour has already earned Test caps while Bath’s Sela was involved in the Six Nations squad but did not feature in any of the games.
As for Gloucester’s rising star Fasogbon, he was the first one namechecked by Du Toit after putting together a series of excellent displays for the Cherry and Whites recently.
“Afo is doing unbelievably well and purely based on a consistency basis, he’s playing week in, week out. He’s putting in some serious minutes,” he told The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast.
“That guy will play 250, 300 games for Gloucester if he decides to stay and if his body keeps up, which it definitely looks like it’s going to.
“I’m very biased, I think Billy Sela is amazing. He’s everything that I would love to see in a younger player; unbelievable work-rate, he’s got all the talent in the world and he’s such a nice guy. A great guy to be around and a team man.”
Fasogbon has also had a taste of the international set-up having toured with England during their mid-year series in 2025 but, like Sela, he did not feature.
There has been some criticism of Steve Borthwick that neither have so far been given an opportunity at Test level, but Du Toit states that it is difficult to find the right balance when developing tightheads.
Young tightheads ‘don’t shoot the lights out’
“From what I understand, a couple of the guys have been in camp, which was blooding enough for them,” he said.
“It would have been great to see a couple of the guys play but I find it very difficult because if you think about it in a practical way, do you start them or do you bench them?
“If you’re a starter who you believe will play 60-odd minutes and he goes off in the first 10, you throw in a youngster into the very deep end and if he doesn’t perform well, you’ve got this perception about him that’s completely skewed.
“I would always advocate for these guys starting. If it doesn’t go well for 20 minutes, you go, ‘listen, come off we’ve got someone on the bench who has done it before, he will go and finish the job for us’.
“I would have loved to have seen Billy play but he is so young and he is going to be phenomenal in the future, the way that he’s tracking.
“Unfortunately, the thing with tightheads is you don’t shoot the lights out in the beginning of your career, you just don’t.”
Currently, Will Stuart, when fit, and Joe Heyes are the first choice England tightheads and Du Toit knows the former well having played with him at Bath for the past three years.
Despite the youngsters coming through and the impressive development of Heyes as a Test prop, the South African still believes Stuart will be Borthwick’s go-to prop.
“I think he’s England’s best tighthead, he’s an incredible player. He’s a very quiet man on the pitch, you won’t here him talk a lot – maybe because he’s tired – but he definitely delivers.
“He’s on the brink of being for the next four or five years the best tighthead in England, he’s got unbelievable ability.”
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